POLS170 Blog Group 0203

  Henry Graff International Politics Blog 3 Due to the dynamic nature of states and international relations, establishing and perpetuating strong authority on a global scale is a massive undertaking. Creating effective and respected systems, rules, and ideals is so difficult because of the range of cultures and ideologies around the world. Furthermore, who will delegate authority, promote ideals, and act “correctly”? Given the United State’s major role in global conflicts such as World Wars I and II, it is clear that we might be more fit for a leadership role, right? In reality, the rise and domination of particular world powers in global authority institutions, such as the United States, has put the international stage in an ineffective position. The Security Council, for example, is indefinitely led by the US, Russia, China, France, and England. This poses issues in that respective global power is completely volatile, meaning these nations are somewhat arbitrary outside of thei...

  The effectiveness of international institutions has long been debated. The League of Nations, European Union, NATO, and United nations have all endured scrutiny for different reasons. In theory they serve excellent roles, providing linkage and relations between nations. They serve as forums to facilitate conversation on everything from trade, to war, to humanitarian issues. However, many contend that institutions lead to stalemate, inaction, collusion, appeasement, virtually no preventive action, and a generally useless waste of time. Critics maintain that these international societies are actually roadblocks to action when they are meant to be producers of unified action. One could definitely make a comparison between congress and these international institutions in that they are both slow and don’t get a whole lot done. While some of this may be true, I would argue that these institutions do far more good than harm and while they may not do much they are still good for somethin...

  Blog Post #3 - POLS170 LoBue, Gaby How the International Criminal Court Can Expand Their Jurisdiction President Biden was leaving a press conference last Wednesday when he responded to a question claiming that President Vladimir Putin is a “war criminal” (ABC News, Youtube). This claim falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and, in my opinion, inevitably will not be able to prosecute him due to their lack of power over Russia or countries in general. The ICC since its development has not been able to use their platform to condemn crimes committed by world leaders effectively. The International Criminal Court must reestablish itself by improving their relationship with each country’s legal system, which will in turn revert its authority back on them. Countries involved in intercountry relations must recognize the ICC and individually enforce international law when necessary. The logistical procedures of the International Criminal Court as it stands has no...

  Reed Klein Blog Post 3 Something that has been ever-present in International Politics that I find may be creeping into our world again, is the unfortunate raising of an Iron Curtain in Europe for a second time in the past century. The term coined by Winston Churchill was used to indicate the cutoff between the communist and non-communist sections of Europe that crossed from Germany and much of central Europe. To me, this implementation is one of the saddest parts of the cold war, as we saw families separated by nationality by no fault of their own, many families were never reunited and the ones that did were never the same. We may not think that a decade or two is a long time, but for a family that is so many milestones whether it be birthdays, weddings, pregnancies that families do not get to spend together by no fault of their own. Why do I bring this up you may be asking, and I have an answer. I fear another Iron Curtain will soon descend across continental Europe, but my pers...

  Kim Magnotta What do International Relations and Disney’s The Little Mermaid have to do with one another?  While at first glance the connection between International Relations and Disney’s 1989 film, The Little Mermaid , may seem abstract, with further analysis it is quite apparent that these topics have stark similarities. The Little Mermaid , tells the story of Ariel, a teenage mermaid who desperately wants to marry a human. Despite her father’s warnings that a marriage between a mermaid and a human would disrupt the world order, Ariel instantly falls in love with Prince Eric after watching him at a party. Ariel’s behavior mimics a tragedy of the commons type situation that often arises in international disputes. Rather than Ariel following the universal standard set forth by her father, she chose to make her own decisions, which had the potential to harm other individuals. Ariel continues to act in her own self-interest after two sea eels approach, and suggests that she v...

  Henry Graff International Politics Blog 2 Despite evoking incredible national support upon its launch, our invasion of Afghanistan has developed into something we were seemingly unprepared for. In order to make somebody pay for their actions against the American people, President Bush’s offensive aimed to eradicate al-Qaeda in the newly proclaimed “war against terror”. These initial intentions are very important when thinking about our involvement in the Middle East, as the situation is incredibly dynamic and increasingly complex. When asked today about our aid in the Middle East, most would likely attribute it to our attempted government building. This, however, was not always the case. As Boot demonstrates in Twenty years of Afghanistan mistakes, but this preventable disaster is on Biden , there is a trail of mistakes made by many U.S. Presidents. One aspect of this is the inconclusiveness of why we were there at any given point. Boot begins by stating Bush’s error in “failin...

  William Kernodle Professor Shirk Pols 170 03 March 202 MAD I have long subscribed to the idea that nuclear weapons will prevent another huge war from breaking out. However, due to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have considered flaws in the mutually assured destruction theory. I firmly believe that no rational actor would willingly utilize their own nuclear weapons for fear of subjecting themselves to a reactionary nuclear attack. I would argue that while mutually assured destruction is a very real possibility and definitely serves as a deternace for war between rational powers, that it may not necessarily do the same for irrational powers. Democracy definitely strengthens this theory because an elected leader who leads his people to nuclear war is unlikely to earn reelection whereas this isn’t something a stereotypical irrational actor would have to worry about. I now wonder how effective mutually assured destruction really is if the weapons are in the hands of unstabl...

  Reed Klein  Professor Shirk International Politics  2/2/22 The concepts I would like to compare today are the idea of international politics being continuous and changing to the evolution of protocols throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. While in international politics over the past 100 years there has been a large shift in European colonization to independent states governed by the natives of the nation, the dominance of these European nations since then has not completely gone away. Even though a place like South Africa is fairly successful in running an independent government, this does not change the fact that the nation has large ties to Great Britain and remains one of the nation's close allies and a crucial trade partner. This compares pretty nicely to Covid. Even though most still regard covid as a deadly disease that should be taken seriously, we went from complete stay-at-home orders to moderate autonomy to go out and enjoy the world. At one point public health...

  Reed Klein Professor Shirk POLS 170: International Politics 3/2/22 The balance of power in international politics works eerily similar to the balance of power between corporations in our world markets. In the same way that some argue that America and China are the two most powerful nations in the world, Pepsi Co and Coca-Cola Company are considered the two biggest soda companies in the world. While there have been times in the world of Bipolarity (today), Unipolar (the peak of the British Empire), and so on. This is such a fascinating comparison because as the balance of power between nations has changed over time, so does each industry itself have a shifting balance of power. In the clothing world, there are quite a few big companies along with tons of family businesses. Our world works the exact same way. There always have and always will be a few powerful nations, but it does not mean that the smaller ones cannot and will not do great things. Even though there is something t...

Kim Magnotta  Professor Shirk  March 1, 2022 The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Ukraine-Russia Dispute:  In a recent conversation with my parents, the topic of the Ukraine-Russia Conflict was mentioned, and my father aptly suggested that there are notable similarities between the current uncertainty and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Just as the Cuban Missile Crisis represented the power struggle between the USSR and the United States, the present situation sees Russia be against much of the western world. In the Cuban Missile Crisis, the influence of allies played a significant role in the unrest that was incited between the United States and Russia. While the United States had placed missiles in Turkey, the USSR decided to form an alliance with the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, where missiles could be stationed just a few miles away from the southernmost point of the United States. At the time, the United States and the Soviet Union were in the midst of the Cold War, and...